Hi,
I have the RSTX 20 and believe the hard drive failed. I do not have an image.
Does anyone?
Also, last time a hard drive went in one of my tivo's I was able to buy a imaged drive off of ebay but these do not seem to be very popular anymore.

My sis was gonna toss her RS-TX20. Long story short, I'm usually pretty good but I can't find this image anywhere. Would somebody please help me out?

I have a copy of an image distributed here by tahoejoe and Kasmiur, from back in 2010, if you don't find one elsewhere. It's 289,977 KB and is a WinMFS image of a 160 GB hard drive for the Toshiba RS-TX20 (so you will need at least a 160 GB hard drive).

Let me know if you're interested, and we'll try to find a way to get it to you.

I have an opportunity to purchase an RS-TX60 from a local thrift shop. Since the unit has been in the shop for so long, they allowed me to hook it up to a television to verify that it worked. While testing the unit, I checked the System Info screen and noticed the TiVo Account Status stated "Product Lifetime Service".

From what I understand, the previous owners could have transferred the lifetime service to another TiVo box rendering the RS-TX60 in need of a subscription. Unfortunately I did not write down the TiVo Service Number, otherwise, I could confirm this with TiVo. But being it is a Toshiba RS-TX60, it was originally advertised with built-in TiVo Basic offering a free 3-day programming guide.

I spoke with a TiVo customer rep last year (when I first noticed the machine in the shop) and she stated something like that (TiVo Basic) is no longer supported, although she did sound somewhat bewildered at the mention of TiVo Basic.

So my first question is, does anyone know if TiVo still honors/supports the free 3-day programming guide for RS-TX machines? In other words, if I repeat the guided setup, will the TiVo mothership force me into a paid subscription in order to get any use of the machine beyond that of a door stop?

And my other question is, since the box still "thinks" it has Lifetime Service, as long as I don't connect, can I still use the unit to manually record shows (although no programming info will be available), use the 30 minute live tv buffer, etc.??

The Tivo Basic service still works and it never expires. The tivo will revert back to Tivo Basic if the lifetime service is no longer valid. You will still be able to use the Tivo either way and will not have to pay a subscription fee.

Thank you for your replies. In regards to that, I have exciting news and unfortunate news to report.

So feeling pretty confident about the responses here, I decided to purchase the RS-TX60 last night to hook it up to see what happens. Before having the unit call home for programming info, I called TiVo with the TiVo Service Number and asked the same questions. The customer service rep. I spoke with stated the account is "Closed". I asked how can that be since the account status is listed as "Product Lifetime Service". He wasn't sure why it was stated as "Closed" but he said if the unit had "Product Lifetime Service" then it will retain that after connecting it. He also confirmed what shwru980r said about TiVo Basic service. It is also worth noting it has not connected to TiVo for more than 180 days.

After my phone call, I moved forward with wiring it in to my A/V empire. I was elated to see Guided Setup was progressing as expected. Then the shoe dropped. I was informed via the setup process that the TiVo has collected basic programming info and upon the next connection it will download a full 3 days of programming. That's right, you guess it, the Account Status now reads "Closed", despite the words of the TiVo rep..

So the good news is that the unit functions perfectly with 3 days of programming (with obvious limitations of Basic service) but the bad news is it no longer has lifetime service. So my final question about this is, does this make sense regarding the apparent downgrade to "Closed" status from "Product Lifetime Service"? Does "Product Lifetime Service" go away if the unit has not called in for some time? If so, that seems to violate the notion of "Product Lifetime Service".

Makes sense to me. Somebody stopped using it before they bought a newer TiVo, then transferred the lifetime to their Series 3 or whatever. The next connection (that you made) reflects the new status of that previous account i.e. closed.

Hi Fuzzy, hopefully you didn't pay a lot for this Tivo based your hopes that this Tivo included the Premium "Lifetime Service"
It does come with "Liftetime basic", and That is great.

Yes it does have the limitations of only a 3 day guide, etc. and does not have all of the flexibility of a Premium lifetime service, or a paid monthly service.
What it does come with however (Tivo Basic), is great, and regardless of your source (Cable, Over the Air, or Satellite), is basic functionality with NO Monthly Fee.

I have 3 of these units, and have had them for years, currently in use with Cable and it's great. And I have never been tempted to try the premium service (Lifetime basic with no monthly fee is Great. You can also upgrade the hard drive on these units.
The RS-TX20, and the RS-TX60 use the same image.

It's far from a door stop and beats the Old VCR's while it doesn't offer the flexibility of the Premium service, Lifetime Basic with No Monthly Fee is Great.
As long as you didn't pay to much for it, you might be able to get your money back by selling this item online. Otherwise enjoy the unit with Lifetime Basic, and no monthly fee's.

while it does have an analog tuner, the unit will control many units (Cable, Over the air, or Satellite) boxes with the IR or Serial cable.

I have a RS-TX60. How do I know if the drive is any good? Recently a new batch of Verbatim DVD-R has been flaky with only 4 good burns out of 11. I tried burning on my iMac and it worked OK. Anyway to test the drive without wasting DVDs?

I have a RS-TX60. How do I know if the drive is any good? Recently a new batch of Verbatim DVD-R has been flaky with only 4 good burns out of 11. I tried burning on my iMac and it worked OK. Anyway to test the drive without wasting DVDs?

I'm guessing that the drive is good. When you run into problems with failed burns, it's usually related to bad programs. For instance:

You set up to burn 4x 30 minute episodes at high quality. The disc fails. Next time you repeat, but this time you watch the percentage. Then it fails again at say 67%. This would indicate that it was okay with the first two programs, but failed on the third. You could burn the disc successfully with episodes 1, 2, and 4.

I'm not sure what causes a bad program, but I've recorded episodes or programs that would always fail. It is frustrating.

You could try with a DVD-RW. I think you'd still have a failure, but at least you wouldn't waste a disc. If it's successful, you could always use your computer to copy to less expensive more permanent DVD-R.

All in all, it's still way more convenient than using TiVo To Go to transfer, followed by Roxio to burn.

How big a disk will the rstx20 support?
Do I need 7200 rpm?
IDE, SATA, etc???
I want to use a 500 gig HD at least.
Also, what is the proper disk image for thats size HD ( I am new here, and links to downloads dont show up until i post 10 messages -- groan!)

How big a disk will the rstx20 support?
I know it supports at least 1 TB

Do I need 7200 rpm?
Most standard drives are 7200 a 5400 rpm drive would run slower and should run cooler, but I don't know if it's fast enough for a dvr
How about it anyone using a 5400 in your RS TX 20 or RS TX 60?

IDE, SATA, etc???

The original drives offered with these were IDE drives, however you will want to purchase a SATA drive to replace it, and all it needs is a small IDE to Sata HDD adapter, it's a very small circuit board which will plug onto the end of your Sata drive which will then connect to to the IDE type Data and Power connectors with no problems.
I want to use a 500 gig HD at least.

That's what I put in mine was a 500 GB SATA hard drive with an adapter and I used an image I got from someone on here to put on it, works like a charm.

Also, what is the proper disk image for thats size HD

You can use WinMFS to place the image on the hard drive, the size of the original image will be the same whether you put this on a 120 GB drive or a 1 TB drive. the size of the image I was provided by someone on here is 271 mb

( I am new here, and links to downloads dont show up until i post 10 messages -- groan!)

Welcome to the group, there are a lot of helpful people on this board I hope you are able to get what you need quickly.

All of a sudden my RS-TX20 with Tivo Basic shows "service is not active" message.
Reconnecting (successfully many times), bouncing the box, repeating guided setup had not resolved the issue. Calls with support were of no help.
Any idea what's going on? hints to resolve?

I have a copy of an image distributed here by tahoejoe and Kasmiur, from back in 2010, if you don't find one elsewhere. It's 289,977 KB and is a WinMFS image of a 160 GB hard drive for the Toshiba RS-TX20 (so you will need at least a 160 GB hard drive).

Let me know if you're interested, and we'll try to find a way to get it to you.

Hello,

I have a RS-TX60 that I am running clear and delete everything. If it does not finish, I will need a RS-TX60 image. It has been running for over 6 hours.

We just received as a gift a New HDTV, Tried to hook Tivo to it through Composite, and it looked almost black and white, Not sure what the problem was, or did I hook it up wrong.
Tried to hook it up via Component, and it looked fine, but Captions did not work at all, and from my research it appears not to work through Component hookup (correct me if your set does)
We have Time Warner and have the classic lineup which is available boxless for certain tv's
The TV that we got did not have this type (QAM I think) tuner in it, so it would require a separate box.
We already supply our RSTX Tivo Units with the Minibox as these old Tivo units do not have the necessary tuner in them after the cable company went digital.

Has anyone successfully hooked up your Tivo RS TX Units to an HDTV
and had it working with Captions, and the ability to watch one program and record another without a cable box. using just our standard cable lineup feeding directly to the TV?
Recommendations Please. if you know of an HDTV Set that would do all that I want, or have some useful information, Please reply.

Is there any way to manually change the time on these things (RS-TX20 specifically)? The only way I know of changing the time is by connecting it to a phone line and I don't keep a phone line connected to it.

The Tivo system get's it's time from the servers which give you your guide, If the zip code is wrong then the time would be wrong, I don't keep my Tivo hooked up to a phone line (it takes forever), I use a Tivo Wireless adapter, If you were to get either a wired or wireless adapter for your tivo, then when your tivo updated
it would get your guide information and update the time.

You can get a wired adapter starting around $10, and a wireless adapter starting around 25 dollars, Your choices are either to use the phone line, or to use internet to get your guide.

The only other thing I can think of that might affect your time is the battery on the motherboard, it's possible it's so old that it doesn't hold the time well

but having looked at it, I haven't found one place in the Tivo Settings that allow you to manually change your time
.
The only thing that would do it, is to reset your zip code, but that would give you the wrong listings for your area.

Yeah, I can't find any way to manually change the time. Kind of annoying actually. I know you can sync it by connecting it to Tivo somehow, and I'm not going to buy a wireless adapter just for the time. Was hoping that maybe somebody had some odd "trick" to change it.

Sorry you can't manually change the time, You won't find it in the manual, because it can't be done, The time is set by by Tivo's servers based upon the zip code you provide during setup,
(just as on Verizon Time is provided to the cell phone from the towers.)

It's not just the time that your phone, or internet connection provides to the Tivo unit It also provides your channel guide, Which in the case of the RS TX Tivo's
They provide a Free 3 day guide without needing to subscribe

Now if you want to do this cheaply you can get a long phone line, temporarily disable call waiting, and manually update it at night, and it will automatically try to update not just the time, but your 3 day programming guide.

It is possible that if your time is wrong, but your zip code is right, that the button battery on your motherboard needs replaced

Other than that you could get a wired adapter for around $10

I would say if you are having problem with the time, and your zip code is corrrect, and you have updated recently, change the battery on your motherboard.

I have 3 of these I use with Cable, I love them Free 3 day guide, and No $15 a month for a Cable DVR.

The only other tip, I can recommend is if you are having problems with a show, you go into your todo list, and you can adjust the ending time
or do a manual recording of the time, day and channel, time started and time to end to make sure you are getting what you want recorded.
Good Luck to you.